The fad from last year’s television season, where under-performing shows would get their episode orders trimmed as opposed to being all-out canceled, is back again this season. Fall 2016’s first victim of episode orders being trimmed goes to ABC’s Notorious, according to Variety. Instead of getting 13 episodes, the show will now only be airing 10 episodes.
For the show’s first five episodes, the show is averaging a 0.96 rating in the 18 to 49 demographic, according to TV by the Numbers. That number is well below the rating Scandal put forth a year ago, as both shows air in the same timeslot, on the same night, on the same network.
ABC officials said the show is remaining on the schedule and hasn’t been officially canceled yet. ABC is also retaining the cast options.
Notorious stars Piper Perabo and Daniel Sunjata as Julia George, a news producer for the number one cable news show, and Jake Gregorian, a high powered attorney. The show focuses on their friendship and the relationship between the media and crime. The show is loosely based on the real-life friendship of defense attorney Mark Geragos and Wendy Walker, a producer for Larry King Live, which aired on CNN from 1985 to 2010. Geragos and Walker serve as executive producers of Notorious.
The show was brought on as the replacement show for Scandal, which is premiering in the midseason to accommodate star Kerry Washington’s pregnancy. Notorious was given the prime spot on the Thursday night schedule as it was sandwiched between ABC powerhouse Grey’s Anatomy and How To Get Away With Murder. This season, How To Get Away With Murder’s ratings are down, possibly because Notorious isn’t serving as a good lead-in for the show in terms of ratings.
The next show that seems to be heading in the trimming the episode order club is another ABC show, Conviction, who’s most recent episode, which aired on Oct. 24, only scored a 0.8 rating in the 18 to 49 demographic.
Last season, shows that were under-performing had their episode orders trimmed instead of being outright canceled. Blood and Oil, The Player, Truth Be Told and Minority Report all had their orders trimmed. Wicked City was the first show of the season to be canceled outright and Angel From Hell was pulled from CBS’ schedule after a few episodes. ABC also canceled Of Kings and Prophets after two low-rated episodes.
Notorious airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. on ABC. Provided the show is pre-empted for Thanksgiving, the last episode will air on Dec. 1.